Category: #christian

Passion is what drives me. I love Jesus. Knowing He loved me first and He is the only reason I am here. I love my family and want to make them proud. I want to provide for them. They make me want to be better…..every single day. My other interests come from a place of wanting to take more control of my health…..to learn natural ways of dealing with life’s little hiccups. To be able to share this with people so that they too can benefit and help those around them.

It is never too late to learn better ways of taking care of the people you love. It’s never too late to change bad habits. Today is the day to look at the way you have been “treating” yourself and what you have been treating yourself with and say, “YOU KNOW WHAT!?! MAYBE THERE IS ANOTHER WAY! A BETTER WAY! A MORE HEALTHY WAY!” I use the phrase “baby steps” quite often because it takes time to change 30+ years of bad habits. For every unhealthy thing you stop putting in your body, on your body, or in your mind you are taking the right steps and being an example for those around you. Especially those little eyes that are always, always watching you. How will they know to do any different if we don’t show them?

You will never find the perfect church full of perfect people. We are easy to forgive our family and close friends whom we love. Why oh why then do we seem to expect perfection and give less grace to our church family? I know it was rainbows and sunshine when you first walked through those doors. I know you felt as if you had found the one church in the whole world that was full of people who felt the same way you did about everything. Never would your opinions clash or feathers ruffle each other’s. Much like falling in love even the little annoyances seemed cute.

*It’s so obvious to me, now at this point in my life, how our humanness gets in the way of God’s work for us.
Maybe it’s because of the bad taste I had in my mouth for years after I left my childhood church. I held a grudge so strong that the mere mention of its name would send me into a rant of all the wrongs they had done me. How they made me feel inadequate or judged. How it was there fault I had fallen away from my faith. I wrote off all church. I said things like “you don’t have to go to a building on Sundays to worship God” and the all popular “I am not going to join a church full of hypocrites.” Ahhhhh the devil smiles at that one. Using the truth of what church is to keep people away. That is what he does though. A little truth and a little twist to cover the big fat lie that he sells to make you feel better about you neglecting fellowship with other believers. What does he whisper to you……
*The music isn’t upbeat enough.
*The music is too upbeat.
*The pastor doesn’t preach enough of this that or the other or preaches too much of this that or the other.
*Too much attention to this or not enough attention on that.
*Not enough young people or too many young people or too many old people.
Have I hit one yet?
*How about too missional…not missional enough.
I could go on and on. Why? Because I’m human too and so incredible flawed that I can even understand these excuses. I may have used them…..I have heard them and I just want to go on record to say that there is no perfect church, perfect pastor, perfect congregation of people who are all on fire and ready to serve 100% at the same time. You say “duh stupid lady that’s obvious.” Well is it? Really? If you claim to be a christian then get your backside into a church. Not because I say but because God does. (Hebrews 10:25, Matthew 18:20,Colossians 3:16, Acts 2:42,etc) No its not about just being in the building on Sundays. I highly doubt, however, that if you are not there on Sundays you are there any other day of the week……and if you aren’t accountable to anyone about how your faith walk is going….or growing than are you really spending daily time with Jesus? I’m guilty! For sure and it’s so easy and yet I fail again and again. The farther away I get from my church (like missing Sundays) the more I forget to pray……the more I forget to open my Bible…..the more the world consumes me and the more the devil uses these excuses to try to get me to stay away. I know what his plan is ultimately…..to keep me from walking in the Holy Spirit and off the path God has set for me. Hey I’m saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and that can’t be taken from me. What can be taken from me are the blessings and beautiful experiences of living a life totally sold out and on fire for Jesus. What shall we say then…….stay away from the church because we may have to serve….we may have to deal with differing views of how things should be done, spent, handled, etc.? Don’t blame people for the lack of warm fuzzies you feel when you have only warmed a pew for a few Sundays here and there. In many cases it all starts with that church building……that leader or Sunday school teacher…..that sermon that stabbed you right in the heart! I spent too many years out of fellowship and I know for a fact that without it I quickly slide down a slippery slope. The church to a believer is like AA to the alcoholic. You don’t always want to go but you NEED to. Skip the excuses and find your church family and once you have found them don’t give up on them when the “honeymoon” phase fades away. All wonderful relationships take work, honesty, love and forgiveness. ❤

Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man. –Dwight L. Moody

Wow do I get caught up in nothing. The day to day yuck that literally fills my mind and grabs my attention away from where it should be. I love my social media but much like all those things I enjoy I tend to let it engulf me. I give it power over my thoughts and actions. Where should my focus really be? What should I be pursuing and mentally exhausting myself over? More importantly if all of a sudden I found myself face to face with my Redeemer would I be embarrassed and sorrowful over the things of this world that I let take most of my time? Thinking about that moment makes me uncomfortable to say the least. It’s like sitting in church under a Holy Spirit filled sermon and every fiber of your being wants to disappear……It’s those moments when you feel your sin has exposed itself like a scarlet letter. Blazing red on your forehead for all to see. We hear it over and over……you cant straddle the fence….you can’t be in communication with God while wallowing in the mud of this world and at some point in our christian walk it becomes crystal clear. We have only one job, one subject matter that should consume our day in and day out, one God to please. Everything else will fall into place if we just live the way He has told us to live, flee the things He tells us to flee, love those He tells us to love and seek after Him with our whole heart, mind and soul continually in study and prayer. These verses filled me with a realization this morning that truly nothing matters except for doing the will of my Heavenly Father. My joys should be His joys, my desires, His desires, and my hope only in Him. Where I am at any given moment should be exactly where He has placed me……and how would I know if I am in the right place unless I have spoken with Him, opened my heart to Him and only Him and ridden myself of all the other empty and pointless things that war for my attention and do this every single day.

Revelation22:12-17 (NKJV)

Jesus Testifies to the Churches

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
“Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.
And the Spirit and the bride say “Come!”. And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Questions I am asking myself and praying about….

Are you a thirsty christian? When you think of Christ’s coming do you exclaim “Come!” Or would you rather have more time here? What are your desires and do they seem like desires God would have for you? Are you working for worldly reward or heavenly reward?

​The most important decision you will ever make in your life is what you will do with Jesus. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans3:23)None of us can stand blameless. For the wages (consequences) of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) You cannot be “good” enough to get to heaven. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8&9)

You do not get a second chance after your last breath in this world and you do not want to be left on this earth to face the tribulation. You were created by a God that loves you so much He sent His only Son to die in Your place(John3:16) and yes you have a choice to make. By ignoring God and/or refusing to search for answers in His word you have made your decision. There is no saying “but God I didn’t know!” There are many who believe they are “ok” and think they will be accepted into heaven. If you have never met Jesus I’m sorry to tell you that your faith is empty. All works and religion with no substance….no truth. It is all in God’s word. You only need to open it. Begin your journey by reading the gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Ask God to show you the truth. Out of love I am asking everyone that reads this to take a few minutes out of your life and read these scriptures with an open heart to let God speak to you. It doesn’t matter if you have never stepped foot in a church or if you have never uttered a prayer. “Ask, and it will be given to you; see, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For EVERYONE who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7&8)

Truly you have Everything to lose or Everything to gain.

“Not everyone who says to me , ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. MANY will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And I will declare to them, ‘ I NEVER KNEW YOU; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS!’ (Matthew 7:22-23)

Don’t go another day having made the choice to do nothing with Jesus. Put aside what denomination you were raised under…..put aside anyone who called themselves a Christian but then did something horrible to you. Forget about what any human has told you and read God’s word.

My boys are still young 7 and 4 so while I feel I am still very much an amateur at this homeschooling life there are still so many reasons why I love it and how I know it is going to work for us all the way through. When people ask if I will be homeschooling the “whole” time I always wonder a bit where this question comes from. Am I all of a sudden going to not want to be with my children? In a moment decide I am not capable or do they think at a certain age my children are going to beg to be woken up at the crack of dawn to be ushered to a bus stop and then sent to a building where they have to spend 8 hours before they can come home and resume their own interests? I usually reply with something like, ” well we will see how it goes” or “for now that is the plan”. Maybe sounds a little wishywashy to you but since God led me to homeschool and indeed answered my pray with a very real “YES”, if in turn down the road He tells me to throw in the towel then I would absolutely do just that. So here are my top 10 reason why I homeschool, why I am 100% sold on it and why I know it’s best for our family.

#1-I run a daycare out of my home. Some days this makes the doing school work a bit harder but most of the time it just works. Our days don’t look like a regular “what you would see down the street at the school” day. We get done what we can during the day and use our evenings as well. Our emphasis is on learning to read. I feel once they grasp that the skies the limit and all knowledge is at their finger tips.

Reading is important, because if you can read, you can learn anything about everything and everything about anything. —Tomie dePaola

Which then brings me to the 2nd reason…

#2-My children are learning Life Skills. Lately I have made the goal that my kids will be self sufficient by the time they are in the double digits…..around 10 years of age. What do I mean by that? In my mind they should be able to do their own laundry (mainly folding and putting away properly) but I have no doubt they can also learn to separate it and use the washer and dryer. (not that I will make them do this or be able to give up control of the laundry entirely:) I watch my 7 year old navigate through an app on the tablet or play video games, build lego creations so sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, etc should be a piece of cake. They should be able to make small meals for themselves. Both of my boys love helping especially when it comes to cooking and admittedly I don’t ask them to help enough. Am I going to put them in charge of the house? Goodness No! However I have seen them light up when they feel they have contributed to the family and the household in this way. I love taking care of my family but all of us that run a household know the more help the better. Having my boys home during the day gives us time to teach and learn these skills. I mean let’s admit it right here….kids aren’t learning to fold laundry, make beds, or even make a grocery budget at a traditional school. My other secret prayer is that when they find that special girl someday and get married they will already know the work it takes to keep a home and raise children so they will never undermine it and will be more likely to jump in and help without being asked because they already do! So to your future wives….”your welcome and don’t you dare let them tell you they don’t know how!” 😉

#3-They are learning how to care for and teach each other and the younger kids. This is another plus of having other kids in the home of different ages. It isn’t all sunshine and roses because there will always be personalities that clash. Like two “little big dogs” under the same roof. I have watched both of the boys grow in this area. They try their best to be gentle with the toddlers and they love it when we have a little baby in the house. They want to teach them the do’s and the don’ts. They want to make it better when a baby is crying or a toddler is upset. They know that this is what mom does for a “job” but we treat the children and parents like family and that is what the boys call it…”our daycare family”. They are sad when a child moves on from our home but also excited when we have someone new join us.

#4-I know where my kids are and what is influencing them. OK Call me a helicopter parent or a smothering mother or whatever negative phrase makes you feel better. Guess what? I don’t care…why? because for all of history, before there was such a thing as government run schools, kids were either in the home working and learning from their parents or in a one room school house, with all different ages, learning together. Of course I let them out of my sight and I am not hovering over them 24/7 and of course they have activities outside of the home….which includes…..gasp….other kids their age! So as they grow up they will flee the nest to pursue their interests and I will have to let go but there is no evidence that suggests children need to be away from the home or parents at a certain age or a specific amount of time to thrive and grow into well adjusted and happy young adults. I don’t have to wonder if they are getting the attention they need, falling behind, or bored because they are ahead of the rest of the class. I don’t have to worry about bullies. This goes both ways. I don’t want to be on either side of that call from the school.

#5-Absolute flexibility and control of our schedule.- YES I love having the illusion that I am in control of my days. When are you starting school this year? Oh sometime in August….or September was an answer I recently gave. Can we take that little trip in the fall? YES! Can we take a day to go to the pool or can we have late nights without affecting school the next day? YES ……this probably should have been the #1 reason because it doesn’t just sound awesome….it is. Much like when you become your own boss, you just don’t have anyone telling you what you HAVE to do. I also live in a great homeschooling state so I truly don’t have to answer to anyone. The rebel in me just smiles:)

#6-Stress free mornings:) Ok that is a lie but now that the boys are sleeping in later it really is great to let them have their rest and not have to rush around.

#7-The world really is a classroom. Kids learn from doing. All those worksheets, lectures, apps, and videos are great but ask your child what their favorite thing is that they have done this summer. My oldest would say “when daddy and I took apart that cabinet in the garage!” to which he would add, “I got to wear safety goggles because you know….safety first!” My youngest might say something totally off the wall or made up (he is at that stage) or he may something like “when we went to the campground and swam.” There is a reason kids long for summertime and a reason they dread going back to school. Summer means exploring, hands on play, running, swimming, and being with the people they love most….their parents! It’s what sticks in their minds. So wouldn’t it go without saying if you can teach in this kind of environment the information they learn would stay with them all the better?

#8-I am learning or re-learning right along with them. This really doesn’t need explanation but it is neat to learn together.

#9-It really does bring the family closer. My husband works outside of the home so he doesn’t get to see a lot of the teaching that goes on. The other night he heard Noah reading to me in the bedroom and afterward said how cool that was to hear. I think he forgets just how much he teaches the boys in their day to day interactions. He is their teacher too. We are a team.

#10-God will never be kicked out of this school! This year I am committed to include prayer and Bible study into our daily routine. Let me just add this as well……. because my kids do not attend a public school I will not have to explain to my boys why a “girl” is using the boys bathroom or vice versa or why so and so has 2 mommies or 2 daddies nor do I have to worry about them learning a liberal version of sex education at way to young of an age. Yes I know these things will come up and No I will not teach them to hate someone who is different but I absolutely will teach them what God’s Word says about male and female relationships and that we need to treat others the way we want to be treated.

This is not to bring down parents who send their kids to school. These are just the reasons I am loving this homeschool choice so much. It seems that our society today has made it next to impossible for families to survive on one income but let me just say that if you feel led to teach your own children and to teach them your way it is definitely doable and your homeschool does not have to look like a traditional school at all. Make it your own. As long as your kids are learning, happy, and healthy what could be better. If you put God at the forefront of this adventure everything will work out just fine.

Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)

6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.

2 Corinthians 5:17-Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

We can reinvent ourselves a thousand times over in a lifetime. New hair, new makeup, lose weight, gain weight, add muscle. We can collect awards and accomplishments. We can surround ourselves with friends who only know what they see on the surface. All of which can make us feel happy and fulfilled for only moments. True transformation happens when you allow God into your life. When you let the power of the gospel take hold of you and change you. Crumpled and broken at the foot of the cross…..seeing that your sin is what nailed Him there…no one else….just you and Jesus.

Salvation is a one time cry of repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ however because we are flawed and imperfect humans we will find ourselves at the cross over and over seeking His forgiveness. Thankfully he is always with us. Welcoming us back into His presence.

1 John 1:9- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

True transformation happens in our hearts. True freedom is not having to meet the standards of this world. Jesus looks right past our outer appearance and deep into our hearts. We can not hide anything from Him. Again and Again I come to Jesus and ask Him to create in me a clean heart and renew me….change me…..transform me.

The born again christian takes comfort in the fact that God does not break His promises. Our hope rests in Jesus Christ. He came to this world and defeated death and evil. Victory and vengeance will be His in the end. My heart aches for the loss of human life but we lie to ourselves if we do not acknowledge the evil that takes place in this world. Violence and murder happen every single day in every area of this world. Hate, greed, envy, pride, and immorality plague us as a race….of HUMANS. None of us are immune to the nightmares that play across our screens on what seems like a weekly basis. We take it in…..we cry….we get angry…..we pray. I ask myself what is the real terror? Isn’t it dying and then waking up in your eternity and realizing you are in an even darker place because you decided during your life that you didn’t need God, that religion wasn’t for you, or that you had plenty of time to search for the truth?

JOHN 3:16-21 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world,that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

As Christ followers we anticipate and pray for Jesus’ return. For we know that according to God’s Word once He returns for His church the tribulation (a synonym for nightmare by the way) will play out and then the horrors will end. The wars that have played out past, present, and future will hold nothing to the final battle between Light and darkness. God wins! The nightmares will stop.

Now is the time to be bold in your faith. Renew your relationship with your Savior and let Him set your soul on FIRE!

Proverbs 2:3-5 (ESV)

3 yes, if you call out for insightand raise your voice for understanding,4 if you seek it like silverand search for it as for hidden treasures,5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Acts 17:24-27(ESV)

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,27 that they should seek God,and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

I write this as a reminder to myself as well. Do not ignore or disregard the One whom you gave your heart to. Remember the day you said, “Yes God I believe in your Son….I am a sinner and I need forgiveness…I give you everything I am because I am nothing without you. I am so thankful that God’s love is unconditional and His grace and forgiveness to His children immeasurable.